Tea packet



1967 F. P. ANDREWS ETAL 3,346,388

TEA PACKET Filed Feb. 4. 1966 FREDERICK PERCY ANDREWS STANLEY FOSTERREED United States Patent 3,346,388 TEA PACKET Frederick Percy Andrews,2924 McKinley St. NW., Washington, D.C. 20015, and Stanley Foster Reed,1621 Brookside Road, McLean, Va. 22101 Filed Feb. 4, 1966, Ser. No.525,025 Claims. (Cl. 99-77.1)

ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A tea infusion packet in the form of anelongated tube made entirely of a sheet of creped pervious material, thewall of the tube being more stretchable along its longitudinal axis thantransversely thereof, and the tube firmly packed and filled with teaparticles. Additionally, ring means are provided for forming the tubeinto a ring.

This invention relates to beverage infusion packets and moreparticularly to tea packets and a forming and dispensing packagetherefor.

Present tea bags and similar packets produce a bulking of the contents,causing slow, and sometimes only partial, contact of the hot water withthe tea particle mass. It has been found that the outside particles oncontact with water sometimes form a barrier which inhibits furtherpenetration by the hot water. Also, it has been found that the liquidfilm which builds up on the surface of tea bags pr duces a barrier whichinhibits infusion. This barrier further prevents infusion by preventingventing of air trapped in the tea bag. This entrapped air may cause thetea ag to float, thus reducing the infusion potential. Attempts toovercome these problems have involved multi-section bags, pleated bags,and the like. However, such packets require added paper, continue tocontain the tea as an 1111- controlled mass, and therefore have notprovided the ultimate answer to the bulking problem, the surface tensionbarrier problem, the floating problem, and others. Further problemsarise from the fact that the flat face of the packet clings to the sideof the cup or pot and substantially reduces infusion.

This invention provides an infusion packet of stretchable perviousmaterial of high compliance formed into an elongated tube having asubstantially oval or circular transverse cross section with the ends ofthe tube drawn together to form a ring of a size compatible with a teacup. The stretchable material is preferably a tea bag paper of suitablecharacteristics which has been creped to provide stretchability alongthe tube and, if desired, across the tube.

When hot water contacts the ring, the outer peripheral sheath of teaparticles in the tube becomes wet and eX- pands. While the forcedeveloped by this initial expansion is not large, it is sufiicient tostart a stretching action of the stretchable material because of itshigh compliance. The wetting tea particles move as they continue toswell thereby agitating neighboring drier particles, maintaining thestretching action of the tube material and continually preventing theproduction of a film barrier. As the forces generated by the swellingtea particles continue to develop and expand the tube material, newchannels for water flow are continuously and rapidly formed resulting ina wetting of the internal core of particles in a significantly shortperiod of time.

The firmly packed tea ring has a very low air content and its roundedshape presents a very small surface area to the cup thereby avoiding theloss of infusion potential due to buoyancy and a face-to-face sealingcontact formed by clinging to the wall of the cup. During expansion therounded shape is maintained and the damaging face-toface sealing contactis avoided.

3,346,388 Patented Oct. 10, 1967 "ice A preferred tea ring involves anelongated tube formed of a tea bag paper which has been creped to enablea stretching of the paper itself of about 100%. This tube material doesnot actually stretch to this extent when formed into the final tea ring;rather it provides a high expansion compliance of the tea ring whichenables the stretching action described above. The tube may be mad inany suitable fashion; high speed cigarette making techniques may be usedto produce a tube of circular or oval cross section. Preferably the tubeis formed by a longitudinal stitching technique to form a longitudinalconnecting means which automatically assumes an internal peripheralposition when the tube is formed into the tea ring due to thelongitudinal expansion of the tube material. Heat sealing and otherlongitudinal connecting techniques may be used to produce a similarautomatic internal peripheral positioning of the connecting means. Thetea ring may be packaged and merchanised in its ring form or in its tubeform. If merchandised in its tube form, it may be packaged somewhatsimilar to cigarettes or the like with the special package of thisinvention enabling the formation of the tube into a ring upon withdrawalof the tube by its string, as will be explained.

These and further objects and advantages of the present invention willbecome more apparent upon reference to the following specification,appended claims and drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view with a cutaway portion of a tea packet;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged transverse cross sectional view of the packet ofFIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a top view of the packet of FIG. 1 drawn into a ring;

FIG. 4 is a top view of a ring packet of modified design;

FIG. 5 is a top view of a ring packet of another modified design;

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a special dispensing and formingpackage; and

FIG. 7 is an enlarged side view showing the forming procedure of thespecial dispensing and forming package of FIG. 5.

FIGS. 1 and 2 show a longitudinal sheet 15 of stretchable perviousmaterial formed into a tube 16 with its side edges 17 and 18 (FIG. 2)joined by longitudinal connecting means 19 and-its ends 20, 21 closed byend closing means 22. Tea particles 23 fill the tube 16 and, s seen inFIG. 3, the tube 16 when formed into a ring is held in ring shape byring means 24.

The material used is preferably a creped tea infusing paper which hasbeen longitudinally creped to produce a longitudinal stretchability ofthe material itself of about 100% or within a range of about to 200% andwhich has been transversely creped to produce a transversestretchability of the material itself of about 20% or within a range ofabout 15% to 25%.

While various means may be used to form the longitudinal connectingmeans 19, a desirable feature is the provision of a stitched seam alongthe length thereof. Such a seam has the characteristic of bucklingagainst the compressive forces generated in converting from alongitudinal cylindrical form to a ring form and yet which, when subjectto expansion forces in immersion, will resist extension not only tomaintain the ring but even eventually to force the deformation of thering itself into convoluted form.

The tube 16 is firmly packed with tea particles 23 leaving no air volumeof significance within the tube. The end closing means 22 are providedby staples 30 and 31. A string 32 is firmly anchored to one end of thetube 16 by staple 30 and frictionally held at the other end of the tubeby staple 31. The string 32 extends over the seam 26 so that uponpulling the string through staple 31, the seam 26 of the longitudinalconnecting means 19 automat ically assumes an internal peripheralposition in the ring. The outer peripheral surface of the ring has ahigh compliance through the creped material and it readily expands tothe enlarged surface area when the tube is formed into a ring. When donejust prior to use, this ring forming process .primes or conditions thepacket for the infusion process by moving the tea particles and flexingthe paper material from their fixed positions assumed during storage.

The packet is maintained in ring form by ring means 24 which may takemany forms; FIG. 3 shows a string and staples combination while FIG; 4and FIG. 5 show two modifications of a single staple ring means 24.

When a ring packet of the stitched design shown in FIG- 3 'is immersedin hot water, its inner periphery is restrained against significantexpansion. The progressive expansion of the tea particles causes theouter periphery of the ring to balloon. This action eventually causesthe' packet to change its shape from a flat ring to a somewhat U-shapedpacket with the ends of the tube lying in side by side relationshipdefining one leg of the U with the middle of the tube being folded backon itself defining'the other leg of the U. This formation processidentifie the undulating action of the packet which increases itsinfusion capabilities and eliminates the need for external agitation.The resultant packet is neatly oriented for disposal.

A special dispensing and forming package is shOWn in FIG. 5 and includesa box '40 having a bottom 41 on which rest rows of vertically orientedinfusion packets 16 in tube form. A header 42 is horizontally mounted inthe box 40 above'the tops of the tubes. The strings 32 extend throughparallel slits 33 in the header 42 and have pyramid tags 43 at theirends housed in the chamber 44 formed by the box top 45 when closed andthe header 42 in a manner which reduces entanglementLThe front wall 46of the box provides an open top access opening 47 which is verticallydimensioned to allow withdrawal of the packet in ring shape. The slits33 in the header 42 produce pairs of spaced forming fingers 48 which canflex upwardly to release a ring. In use, the pyramid tag 43 is pulledupwardly, causing the top of the tube 16 to seat against the fingers 48,the string 32 then to slide through staple 31 causing the tube bottomend to curl upwardly until in engagement with the tube top end, andfinally causing the upward flexing of fingers 48 and enabling removalthrough access opening 47.

If desired the tubes or packets 16 may have lap joint seals, be formedfor sale as rings and packaged as aserieS on an internal bar, be made asoval or circular tubes or 4 rings. Many variations are envisioned withinthe scope of this invention.

While the invention has been described with reference to certainembodiments, they are to be considered illustrative rather thanlimiting, and it is intended to cover all further embodiments that fallwithin the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

We claim: a

.1. A tea infusion packet comprising an elongated tube formed entirelyof a longitudinally creped sheet of pervious paper, longitudinalconnecting means joining the longitudinal side edges of the sheet, endclosing means closing the ends of the tube, tea particles firmly packedin and filling the tube, said paper being more stretchable along itslongitudinal length than transversely thereof to provide a tube having awall of high longitudinal compliance to facilitate expansion thereofwhen the tea particles become wet and expand whereby new channels forwater flow are formed to facilitate the wetting of the internalcore oftea particles. V

2. A tea infusion packet as'defined in claim 1 and wherein the endclosing means includes a staple at each end of the tube.

3. A tea infusion packet as defined in claim 2 and including ring meansfor holding the ends of the tube adjacent each other and forming saidtube into ring shape, said ring means including a string having one endafiixed to one of said staples and its intermediate portion slidablyextending under the other of said staples, said other of said staplesproducing a friction grip on said string sufiicient to maintain the ringformation.

4. A tea infusion packet as defined in claim '15 and wherein said crepedpaper has a longitudinal stretchability of about to 200%. V 1

5. A tea infusion packet as defined in claim 4.aud wherein said crepedpaper is transversely creped and has a transverse stretchability ofabout 15% to 25%.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,947,523 2/ 1934 Hirschhorn9977.1 2,143,302 1/1939 Cross 7 9977.1 2,244,520 6/1941 Ferrante 9977.12,475,241 7/ 1949 Hermanson. 2,878,927 3/1959' Haley 99-77.1 X

JOSEPH R. LECLAIR, Primary Examiner.

THERON E. CONDON, Examiner.

J. M. CASKIE, Assistant Examiner,

1. A TEA INFUSION PACKET COMPRISING AN ELONGATED TUBE FORMED ENTIRELY OFA LONGITUDINALLY CREPED SHEET OF PERVIOUS PAPER, LONGITUDINAL CONNECTINGMEANS JOINING THE LONGITUDINAL SIDE EDGES OF THE SHEET, END CLOSING MEANCLOSING THE ENDS OF THE TUBE, TEA PARTICLES FIRMLY PACKED IN AND FILLINGTHE TUBE, SAID PAPER BEING MORE STRETCHABLE ALONG ITS LONGITUDINALLENGTH THAN TRANSVERSELY THEREOF TO PROVIDE A TUBE HAVING A WALL OF HIGHLONGITUDINAL COMPLIANCE TO FACILITATE EXPANSION THEREOF WHEN THE TEAPARTICLES BECOME WET AND EXPAND WHEREBY NEW CHANNELS FOR WATER FLOW AREFORMED TO FACILITATE THE WETTING OF THE INTERNAL CORE OF TEA PARTICLES.